Recent Developments and Characterization Techniques in 3D printing of Corneal Stroma Tissue

Corneal stroma has a significant function in normal visual function. The corneal stroma is vulnerable because of being the thickest part of the cornea, as it can be affected easily by infections or injuries. Any problems on corneal stroma can result in blindness. Donor shortage for corneal transplantation is one of the main issues in corneal transplantation. To address this issue, the corneal tissue engineering focuses on replacing injured tissues and repairing normal functions. Currently, there are no available, engineered corneal tissues for widely accepted routine clinical treatment, but new emerging 3D printing applications are being recognized as a promising option. Recent in vitro researches revealed that the biocompatibility and regeneration possessions of 3D-printed hydrogels outperformed conventional tissue engineering approaches. The goal of this review is to highlight the current developments in the characterization of 3D cell-free and bioprinted hydrogels

3D printing of PVA/hexagonal boron nitride/bacterial cellulose composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

In this study, a novel Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)/Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN)/Bacterial Cellulose (BC) composite, bone tissue scaffolds were fabricated using 3D printing technology. The printed scaffolds were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile testing, swelling behaviour, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and in vitro cell culture assay. Results demonstrated that bacterial cellulose addition affected the characteristic properties of the blends. Morphological studies revealed the homogenous dispersion of the bacterial cellulose within the 12 wt%PVA/0.25 wt%hBN matrix. Tensile strength of the scaffolds was decreased with the incorporation of BC and 12 wt%PVA/0.25 wt%hBN/0.5 wt%BC had the highest elongation at break value (93%). A significant increase in human osteoblast cell viability on 3D scaffolds was observed for 12 wt%PVA/0.25 wt%hBN/0.5 wt%BC. Cell morphology on composite scaffolds showed that bacterial cellulose doped scaffolds appeared to adhere to the cells. The present work deduced that bacterial cellulose doped 3D printed scaffolds with well-defined porous structures have considerable potential as a suitable tissue scaffold for bone tissue engineering (BTE)